yEnc TZ - a utility program to decode yEnc encoded files, such as are used on usenet newsgroups.

About yEnc TZ (Version 1.13)

yEnc TZ is a simple, freeware, program that decodes yEnc encoded files.

yEnc TZ is much less useful than it used to be, because the current version of MT-Newswatcher, version 3.4, handles yEncs directly, making this program unnecessary. But yEnc TZ may still be useful if you are using a newsreader with poor yEnc support.

I wrote it because I couldn't find an existing standalone yEnc decoder for Macintosh, and I wasn't about to pay $15 for a piece of shareware just so I could look at yEnc encoded binary files. MT-Newswatcher 3.2 for Mac OS X advertises that it can handle yEnc encoded binary files, but it wants to hand them off to another program to do the decoding. You can tell Newswatcher to use "yEnc TZ" to decode yEnc files.

There is a new version of MT-Newswatcher, now available, that does yEnc decoding natively, probably making my yEnc TZ completely unnecessary.

Older newsreaders don't know about the yEnc format. With older newsreaders you must save the articles, then, in the Finder, hand the saved articles to yEnc TZ.

yEnc TZ works on newer Mac operating systems (9 and X). For Mac OS 7 and 8, use yEnc TZ Classic. For older, pre-PowerPC, Motorola 68K based Macintoshes, use yEnc TZ 68K.

In 7, 8, and 9, you must save articles into files, including encoded text, then as a separate operation, run yEnc TZ.

Both yEnc TZ and yEnc TZ Classic work with files saved with MT-NewsWatcher 3.1. But you have to tell MT-NewsWatcher not to mangle the encoded text (see its "Saving Files" preferences.) I haven't tested with other newsreaders, but they should work the same way.

By the way, yEnc TZ, yEnc TZ Classic, and yEnc TZ 68K will also decode UUEncoded files, Base64 files, and Palm Doc files (some .pdb or .prc files). I often find that they will decode files that Stuffit Expander won't. Another advantage of using yEnc TZ for UUDecoding is that it doesn't truncate the name to 31 characters, which is useful if you are using PAR parity files which expect the original long name to be used.

This is freeware, C source included. (GNU license)

license agreement: You may use this provided you accept all responsibility for any liability that may result from such use.

David Phillip Oster

<mailto:oster@ieee.org>

yEnc TZ Home Page (this page):

<http://www.turbozen.com/mac/yenc/>

Download yEnc TZ for OS X and OS 9.

Download yEnc TZ Classic for OS 8 and OS 7.

Download yEnc TZ 68K for Motorola 68K based Macintoshes.

C Source Code

Download C Source Code for yEnc TZ, yEnc TZ Classic and yEnc TZ 68K.

FAQ

yEnc TZ Frequently Asked Questions

Change History

April 10, 2004 - 1.13

December 10, 2003 - 1.12

July 27, 2003 - 1.11

November 14, 2002 - 1.10

October 14, 2002 - 1.10

October 13, 2002 - 1.09

September 29, 2002 - 1.08

September 7, 2002 - 1.07

July 6, 2002 - 1.06

June 15, 2002 - 1.05

June 12, 2002 - 1.04

June 11, 2002 - 1.03

May 15, 2002 - 1.02

May 13, 2002 - 1.00

Page last modified October 18, 2005

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